My goal with the project example is to create a scenario that is similar to those faced in real projects. I find, too often, that textbook examples overly simplify scenarios to the point that the answer is so obvious that when faced with a real world example the less experienced project manager cannot distill the issue.

Mark is a project manager for Custom BoatBuilders, Inc. Bill manages the custom building of boats for private consumers. Consumers contract with Custom BoatBuilders (CBB) to build custom watercraft for personal use. Mark reports to Steven who is the Client Relationship Manager. Steven’s responsibility is to work directly with the customer and secure a contract for the building of a custom boat. After a new customer contract is signed, Steven involves Bill to execute on the project. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, the triple constraint, the cornerstone of project management and project management (PM) lingo. Along the way, I will try to cover the most common acronyms and lingo that are used in the discipline. I neither intend to promote nor condone any particular use, or in many cases, overuse, of project management lingo. My goal is to create familiarity with the terms as they are commonly used in practice.

The triple constraint refers to the three inputs that govern the ability to deliver a project. The three commonly agreed upon constraints are budget, time, and scope. They are often drawn in a triangular shape to represent the relationship between them. This triangular arrangement helps to represent that any adjustment to one of these factors will have an impact on the other two. This relationship will become clearer with examples. Let’s start with definitions: Read the rest of this entry »

After thirteen years of project management experience, mostly in software engineering, I figured I had something to share. I have a lot of passion around the triple constraint (if you’re not sure what that is, read on) and I love to teach. I’m currently a project manager in the corporate environment and would rather be teaching, so I though I would start this blog to share my experience with those that are interested.

My goal is to post a series of topics that relate to project management and more specifically effective project and requirements management. This is not meant to mirror a textbook and is written in an extemporaneous fashion. I hope to get a few readers along the way and am very interested in requests for topics as well as questions readers may have as a result of topics posted or issues they are facing in their own projects or project disasters, whichever the case may be.